Burning Bright
by me malum
Summary: Aeneid AU possibility from book IV. What if Aeneas had stayed? How would that affect history?


**Edited **23/4/2012- mostly cosmetic in the fic (hopefully clarified the Fate/Destiny issue a few of you brought up) and a few glaring errors in the references that I couldn't stand any longer. *am ashamed of previous mistakes* Have hopefully made scene breaks clear again also.

So... where did this come from? I blame my lecturers. They were talking about the Aeneid and tragedy, and I had a thought, _but what if he didn't? _and how would history change and etc. 'K, so I'm too much of a coward to change much, but some of the little things...

All references are at the end, if anyone wants to read them. The fic is written as though basic Roman history is already known, however. (Warning: references are nearly as long as the fic itself!)

**Disclaimer**- I _wish_. But I'm neither old nor skilled enough to have written anything referenced in this story.

It begins from book IV, line 388 roughly- the first line is a direct quote from my translation- I especially disclaim this. Dido and Aeneas have just had their spat.

Onwards for ficcage.

* * *

_You will receive the punishment you deserve, and the news of it will reach me deep among the dead._

The words echoed in the silence following Dido's departure. Aeneas stared after her awhile, before spinning on his heel and striding back to the Trojan ships. He felt his heart sink as he ordered them loaded and prepared for the long journey ahead of them. It was foremost in his mind, _am I truly right in my actions? How can Jupiter condone such suffering? How can my own mother sit back and see us split apart, even by Fate?_

He heard Ascanius before he saw the boy. It was a shock turning around and seeing a young man, someone almost ready to take up arms and fight beside him. It drove home just how long they had been travelling, _always_ travelling onwards to one more shore, one more city. Seeing his father standing next to his son put it into perspective for him: it was for them, _everything_ he'd done and would do, all for them. He had to go. He had to _let her_ go.

He put an arm around Ascanius's shoulders and with his other, clasped his father's wrist in greeting.

"The weather appears fair enough, for the season," Anchises remarked, sounding careless for the fortune.

Aeneas smiled grimly. "I will make due and dutiful sacrifice to Neptune and our forefathers upon arrival at our destination, for their favour."

Anchises used his words as an opening. "And where, exactly, is that? Sicily? _Hesperia_? Elysium, perhaps?"

"Wherever the gods decide to send us," Aeneas replied, trying to sound as placid as possible. He narrowed his eyes at his father. "You do not like this plan," he stated.

"Look around you, my son! Yes, the men are working quickly and efficiently, but there is no joy, no eagerness to set off again." Anchises was visibly restraining himself from shouting.

Aeneas frowned. "But- they seemed happier for being told we'd be leaving."

"You pious fool! The gods order and you answer, with no thought to the danger you put yourself in; put your _son_ in!"

"Leave my boy out of this!" Aeneas could feel his own ire rising, exacerbated by his own doubts over his decision.

"They're happier for the decision to leave being made for you! It's been months! Some of us dared hope-"

"Hope for what? You've always known _Italy_ is our Fate. Can't you see, it's for Ascanius's sake I'm _doing_ this!" He unconsciously tightened his hold on his son's shoulders.

His father scoffed at him. "You don't want to leave either. Why are _you _doing this, Aeneas?"

The Trojan leader took a long time to answer. Anchises had sighed and started to walk away, but Aeneas grabbed his arm at the last minute. "For you," he said shortly. He glanced at his son who stood silently next to him, eyes fixed on the sand. "For him. For _destiny_. For our future _dynasty_ whose Fate it will be to rule over us all." He stared at Ascanius, shocked again, this time by the fact that his son was nearly as tall as him.

Anchises spoke quietly after this outburst, almost in a whisper. Aeneas strained to hear him as he said, "Fate isn't immutable."

Aeneas knew his reply would be bitter, but he said it anyway: "Careful, father. All-powerful Jupiter will hear you no matter how quietly you whisper."

He'd never seen his father look so heartbroken. "So, your mind is set on this path?" He asked.

"It is." He let Anchises's arm go.

"Then I will say no more." His eyes flickered to someone over Aeneas's shoulder. "My lady." He offered a short bow, and walked away to the ships on the shore.

For a moment, Aeneas couldn't decide if he felt fear or hope, that the woman behind him would be the Carthaginian queen. He turned, half expecting to see her dark, wild hair and tanned face.

But it was her sister, and Aeneas suffered dual feelings again- sadness that it wasn't Dido, and relief that he didn't have to deny her once more. "My lady Anna." He bowed, as did Ascanius next to him.

"My lady," the young man said respectfully. Then he turned to his father. "If I could follow grandfather to the ships?"

"Of course, go," Aeneas agreed immediately, wondering what the queen's sister had to say. Was she here on her own behalf, or Dido's?

"Aeneas. Or should I say, Lord Aeneas? Father Aeneas? Pious Aeneas? Clearly we are no longer kin by marriage."

The man in question refused to wince, just as he had previously refused to show how much Dido's words affected him. "Aeneas is fine. I still count both you and your sister among Troy's friends, and there are precious few of them left."

She spat at his feet. "You are no friend of Dido's, nor of mine by association. You will never be forgiven by Carthage, nor her descendants, as long as any still live."

"Are you here to curse me further?" Aeneas wondered. "I assure you, your sister was perfectly capable of doing so with her own tongue."

"You cannot even bring yourself to say her name," she hissed. "You deserve every curse called upon you!"

Aeneas gritted his teeth but declined to answer and reveal any more of himself.

She continued in the face of his silence. "I had hoped, on your marriage to my sister, that you had thought again of her offer, chosen to settle with us and become her consort, even her king! I had heard that you at least prided yourself on your honour, and as such would not desert us for a far-flung dream like you plan to! Is it her who you're running from? Have you heard nothing that's been said to you? She _loves_ you, wholly and completely; why do you run from that?"

Aeneas couldn't conceal his flinch at that point, and Anna softened her tone, wondering if he was finally starting to _listen_. "She is desperate enough to let you go, eventually," she said softly. "Just a little time now is all she wants; just until the season changes. Until she can reasonably hope you will survive the journey and can think of you, alive, and maybe thinking of her in return."

Aeneas could feel the fine tremors running through his hands. He fought to keep them still. "But I _can't_," he insisted.

"What _are_ you afraid of?" Anna looked at him intently, trying to read the truth on his face. "Battle can have no hold over you, not anymore. Wild storms and damaged ships are known to you." She cocked her head, considering. "You fear your gods; that much is obvious, or you wouldn't be so compelled to leave."

"It is duty that compels me, not fear," Aeneas argued, though he doubted she believed him.

She raised an eyebrow. "You fear my sister." Her expression dared him to deny it.

Aeneas didn't try to. He made his voice empty and formal. "I wish you and- _Dido_- every fortune in your lives, till Fate should see them end."

Anna smiled wryly, and made to leave. "I fear our Fortune will be all too short, then," was her final parting, as she turned and walked away.

She left Aeneas deep in thought indeed.

* * *

"_What did you do, daughter of Saturn, Jupiter's sister? How did you contrive _this_?"_

_Juno's eyes sparked in triumph. "_I_ contrived __nothing__," she refuted. "Ask your darling Cytheran _whore _what happened to your kingdom!"_

"_You would fight against me on this? You _dare _stand against me in this matter?" Jupiter was shouting at her now, but it only added to her glee, and to her victory._

"I _dare. Juno, elder to Jupiter, Jupiter's equal in power dares to stand against him!"_

"_Then she shall also fall against him!" he raged, and gestured as if to strike her. Juno did not flinch, and as the lightning hit, she screamed long and loudly so the mortals below would hear her suffering._

* * *

_The baby's cries pierced the air as the newly-made mother panted for breath._

_The head midwife was oblivious, running to the door to inform the worried husband, "It's a boy, sire! Come and see!"_

_No sooner had he heard than the man was in the room, taking in the sight of his tired wife suckling her son. Their son._

_The woman looked up, and her happiness made her radiant. "My love," she smiled. "A boy to continue our line."_

_He strode to the bed and dropped a kiss on her forehead. "What shall we name him?"_

_She stared adoringly at him, before nodding decisively. "Ascanius," she said, ignoring his swift intake of air. "Ascanius, for the son you let go for my sake."_

_Even after so little time with her, Aeneas could easily hear the fear in Dido's voice. _Did he regret it, Does he wish he'd sailed away this winter past, Will he leave me now..?

_He kissed the top of her head again, and drew wife and son close. "Then our next must be called Sychaeus," he announced._

_Her smile was even brighter now, and Aeneas was even more certain than before: he regretted nothing._

* * *

"_You have been avoiding me, my dearest daughter," he began. She didn't say a word, so the king of the gods continued. "Ever since the winter, in fact. Ever since the Carthaginian queen fell pregnant. I do not believe the two are unrelated."_

_Venus trembled before her father's knowing eyes. It was true that a god should not be injured by a mortal, but a fellow god? The laws were more ambiguous._

"_My great king," she started to say, then stopped. For the first time in her life, Venus could not think how to charm herself out of this situation._

"_My sister still insists that _she _contrived nothing. Therefore," he continued, and his voice acquired a menacing undertone, "I wish to know what you contrived together."_

* * *

"_Father? Is there something the matter?"_

_Latinus turned and regarded his only daughter. So fragile and timid, and with her mother's features. She looked more beautiful than ever in her wedding clothes. _

_Turnus of the Rutulians was a fine match, an excellent match even, so why did the voice in the back of his mind tell him it shouldn't come to pass?_

"_Come, Lavinia," he said to her. "The bride should not be late to her own ceremony."_

_As he took her hand and gave her over to her future, he couldn't help but think, as all fathers surely did, that his darling girl was meant for greater things than being a bargaining tool, an ornament to her husband. _

_Fate was not a cruel entity, however, merely a neutral one; he never knew that out of the thousands of fathers who thought so, he was the only one who for whom it was true._

* * *

"_Mistresses of Time and all It Encompasses, I confess myself perplexed. Why do you allow these ripples to spread?" Jupiter addressed the three beings, the only three beings he would ever defer to._

"Destiny_ is immutable," the oldest one, the Crone said. "We cannot change it."_

"_Time continues. Time continued. Time will continue," the Mother said reassuringly, patting the withered hand._

"_But look! _Fate_ changes at the whisper of the wind!" The Maiden giggled, lost in her own world, seeing something other than her sisters and king._

"_But-" Jupiter's pride warred with his need to know _why _everything looked to be falling apart. "What of the empire that is to come?"_

"Destiny_ is immutable," the Crone repeated._

"Fate_ will make it happen. _Fate_ will make _Destiny_ happen." The Maiden smiled prettily. "_Fate_ will happen, and change, and lose, and win. _Fate_ never stays the same." The smile drooped, slightly. "_Destiny_ never changes."_

"_My Lord," the Mother began. Jupiter knew the title was out of respect; he would never presume to command any of them. "Worry not for the future." She looked to the Maiden, who Jupiter now noticed had her hands clasped over her stomach. "That will be the province of my sisters-yet-to-come."_

* * *

"_My Lord," Ascanius, who upon his arrival in Italy had taken up the name Iulus, bowed low to his king and friend._

_Turnus smiled. "Why so formal between us? Come sit and say what you will."_

_Iulus hesitated, but sank onto the cushions. "It's the anniversary of my father's birth," he admitted. "I just... I need someone to talk to, since grandfather left me."_

"_You miss your father a lot, don't you?" The question was rhetorical; both knew the answer. Turnus considered his next words carefully, before deciding to risk them. "Tell me about him."_

_Iulus smiled sadly. "He was the most dutiful man I knew, the most pious in all of Troy. Hector was our protector, Paris our curse, and he was our priest. Not to say he couldn't fight, only that we'd need to convince him of the justness of our cause first. He was always fair, always measuring the outcome, and he was unwaveringly loyal to his family." The young man screwed his eyes shut as tears threatened to fall. "He _was_! Until... until Carthage, and then... I don't know what happened to him..."_

* * *

"_Venus of Cythera, Morningstar, Crown of Heaven! By dutiful sacrifice on this altar and by the bonds of blood between us, I beg that you show yourself to me!"_

_Aeneas watched in despair as the blood dripped on stone and flowed into the soil at his feet. For three years now, it had been the same: no answer but for the wind and the rain._

"_Stop with your pointless sacrifices, son of Cyprean Venus." Juno's messenger appeared behind him, scorn in her voice and on her face. "She is forbidden to come to you by one whose will is much stronger. Know that Iulus is happy, adopted into the Italian's royal line, and that he calls the man you would have rightfully killed for your kingdom_ father_. Do not attempt to call upon the gods again; since you refused us, we have no duty to answer you."_

_Aeneas sank to his knees, tears falling freely. He didn't see Iris disappear._

* * *

_Romulus ran through the woods with his brother close behind. He didn't care that they were children's games, or that they were dangerously close to the edge of the ridge. He hid, and as Remus ran past, he leapt out and tackled the other teenager to the ground._

"_Your tactics aren't__ fair, my brother!" Remus laughed as Romulus cheered in victory. _

"_All is fair in war, my brother," Romulus retorted. Remus frowned, all mirth gone, and Romulus noticed immediately. "What?"_

_The pinned boy was slow to answer. Eventually, with a sigh, he gave in to the piercing glare of the older twin. "It's that... for a minute, I could almost see- _Father-" _he whispered the word like it was a curse,_ _"shining through you. It sounded like something he would say."_

_Romulus smiled darkly. "But that's good. One day we'll build a city of our own, and reclaim the title that is owed us by blood and birthright. Then we will keep it by fire and sword."_

"_But... how can you tell?" Remus whispered, cursing his doubts even as he did so._

_Romulus took his twin's hand and held it to his own heart. "I know here, brother. I _know _we are meant to do this. Trust me?"_

_Remus didn't hesitate. "I do."_

"_Then stay with me- wait for that day. Father will help us if I must sacrifice a thousand bulls to his altar!"_

_Romulus stood, and held out his left hand to his twin. Remus took it, grasping the wrist in a warrior's grip. _

_His voice was clear in his pledge. "On that day- no, brother, _always_- I will stand with you. I will wait at your side and support you forever."_

* * *

"_Long live the Phoenician! May his empire know no end!" The King of Carthage, known affectionately as The Phoenician after his Tyrian ancestor, raised his hand for silence and focused on the general kneeling before him._

"_My King, I give you another victory," the man reported. He had been brought up to despise his Carthaginian ruler and everything the man stood for. Yet, as he stared up at his king, he felt only loyalty, devotion even._

_Born outside the city, it had been unexpected for one with skin as dark as his to rise so far up in the ranks; to eventually lead his own legion as Legate. At his side, fellow general Fabius Maximus stood proudly, his brother in arms and in everything but blood._

_His ruler smiled at him from his throne. "Arise, Hannibal son of Hamilcar," he intoned. "Your father would be proud of you." He raised his gaze to encompass the rest of the crowd. "Rome has fallen! The glory of Carthage will know no end! For my ancestors and my descendants to come, celebrate!"_

_From his single remaining eye, Hannibal could see Fabius smile. The true-born African smiled back. Whoever would have thought_ delaying_ could be such a devastating tactic?_

* * *

_In secret, in the light shed by a single candle, a historian writes furiously on any scroll he can find in his enemy-occupied city._

...And it came to be that Aeneas fell in love with the Carthaginian temptress, and deserted his son and his gods to be a slave to her passions...

...He indulged her for only three years, and was closely followed to Tartarus by his mistress. Rumour, that lover of tales, will say that he died of a broken heart when he heard of his first son's destiny. Their kingdom was left to the governorship of a steward until their eldest son, Ascanius, was fit to rule...

...Meanwhile, Iulus, who had since forgotten the name he was so ashamed of, the name his father gave him, struck a close friendship with the newly-crowned king of Latium. Turnus, in turn, became fond of the young warrior, and adopted him into his family. Though no kin by blood, he took the throne when his stepfather died childless and became the first of the legacy that was to become the Alban Kings...

...This legacy, though constantly wary of the growing threat from Africa, survived and flourished, until Mars, on the order of his own king, kidnapped and raped a royal priestess, the only heir to the Alban throne at the time. She died in childbirth, though her twin sons survived, and fulfilled their dreams by founding their city on the site where their greatest ancestor lived and died, and gave his family name to the descendants who succeeded him- that is, the name of Iulus, in our modern tongue, Julius...

...Alas, that a city cannot survive by the graces of the gods alone! Though Rome was the favoured, the city of the Phoenix was victorious and the creation of Romulus and Remus sacked by the one-eyed African and his Carthaginian brother. It was to be ruled by godless heathens who employed treacherous tactics...

...But the Julian line continued, and strengthened in secret down through the generations...

...The seer cried out: "The youngest, the one they call Caesar! He will be great. He will avenge his city. He will avenge us all!"...

_Livy smiled, and unrolled the top of the final scroll. "Ab Roma Condita," he whispered, writing the words on the blank heading. "May the African heathens never find it..."_

* * *

_Jupiter frowned as he looked down on the world. It was still wrong; the ripples had spread and gathered in greater numbers as they met and mixed with each other. Yet..._

"_You see it now, don't you?" The Crone asked him. "_Destiny _is immutable."_

_He remembered seeing her as the giggling Maiden, lost inside her _Fates_ and her own eyes. _

"_My youngest sister tells me there is another fulcrum to come," she announced suddenly._

"_Another fulcrum?" Jupiter echoed, wary._

"_Just like the son of Venus, forever reviled for his impiety, had to choose, so does Julius Caesar, blood of her blood, face a similar choice."_

"_Will you tell me?" He didn't demand, but he requested. _

"_It depends." The Crone smiled darkly. "Do you want a Carthaginian empire that knows no end, or a Roman empire that will conquer all in their path or be themselves destroyed?"_

_Jupiter stared as the pieces began falling into place. Finally, he sighed and said, "But it matters not what I want. _Destiny_ is immutable, and will have Her way, rather than mine."_

_The Crone snickered, and left him alone and brooding in the shadows._

* * *

Aeneas blinked, as though he'd woken up from a long sleep.

"-neas? Aeneas, can you hear us?"

There was a hand supporting his back, he noticed, before that hand disappeared suddenly. He blinked and saw himself a small distance away, sitting on the sand with his father and his most loyal men surrounding him. He inhaled deeply and turned around, knowing what caused the strangeness of seeing himself.

"Revered mother," he addressed the goddess respectfully.

"Son. We must be brief; my illusion will not last long."

"You know what I saw."

"It is but one future. There are others-"

"Where I leave? Where I reach Hesperia?"

"Where you do your duty and found your dynasty on blood and pain and a young man's senseless death."

Aeneas struggled to recall the name of the Rutulian king he'd seen. "Turnus."

Venus smiled sadly. "He is like you. He doesn't deserve Jupiter's _Fate_."

Aeneas hesitated, before deciding to ask. "It depends on which duty I choose, doesn't it?" When her expression didn't change, he continued, quieter, "Which _Fate_ I decide." He cast his eyes down at the sand and wondered aloud, "Am I ever happy?"

"You are." She reassured him quickly.

"Where? When?" _Which future?_ He wanted to say, and knew she heard him.

"I cannot make that decision for you, son. I merely agreed to show you that- that _Fate_ isn't immutable." The pause had told him she'd considered those words most carefully. Aeneas felt an eyebrow rise as his second parent repeated the same phrase, word for word.

"But won't the future change, now I've seen it? Now I know what happens to you, and-" His voice cracked a little- "and Iulus?"

"_Destiny_ is unchanging. But, you won't remember it when you wake." She leant forwards and placed a soft kiss on his brow. "Farewell, my son. Know I'll be watching."

"But-" Aeneas started protesting. _There's so much more I want to ask!_

But there was a hand on his back, and somebody calling his name. "Aeneas! Can you hear us?"

Aeneas opened his eyes, wondering just what he was doing with himself. "I can hear you, father," he said. He blinked once, twice, trying to remember. He failed: "What happened?"

* * *

Aeneas didn't know how he'd got here. Didn't know when he'd left the argument and the ships behind, and most of his men staring after him in shock when he told them they could continue under Ascanius's leadership, but he would not go with them.

He'd guessed the rumour would travel faster than he could. Even so, meeting _her_ there was a shock. It jarred him; stirred something _wild_ in his blood.

She stared at him, apparently frozen. He moved an arm slightly; she jumped, startled.

For minutes they stood there in silence and watched each other. Dido found her voice first, though even as she spoke Aeneas completed his movement and drew her into his arms.

"Will you stay, my love? Stay with me and let _Fate_, let the world _burn_?"

Her voice was sharp and clear. But as he looked in her eyes, he saw a wildfire that matched the heresy of her words.

In comparison his voice was soft, though no less sure.

"Yes, my queen." He let out a breathless little laugh and pulled her closer. "My Dido, my _love,_ I will stay with you, and _Fate_ can _burn_ for it."

* * *

References, in order of appearance in the text: 

(Note: these are my interpretations of and impressions from ancient written works- not authorities nor absolutely gospel.)

First off, Anchises isn't dead. I wanted an older, fatherly figure for Aeneas, and figured therefore that I'd just make it so he still had his father when he reached Carthage. AU license :D

Certain epithets throughout the story are found in the Aeneid or other classical works, eg 'Father Aeneas' 'Pious Aeneas'.

Jupiter vs Juno no 1: I figure if she'd won, she'd have boasted about it all right, in a sly, 'I am so much better than you' not-obvious way. I tried to make that apparent while in keeping with the fact that despite delusions of grandeur and equal power, Jupiter _is_ her king (think Hera and Zeus from Greek mythology). Juno is the immortal patron of Carthage, and so against Aeneas from the start and wishes to see him, and therefore Rome, fail before the 2nd century BC when Carthage is sacked and destroyed by Rome. Keeping the Trojans in Carthage, and thus preventing the city ever being founded, was a pretty good way to do that. (Funnily enough, I _love_ Carthage and yet most of the time I _hate_ Juno.)

Aeneas does, in canon (Livy's Ab Urbe Condita) have another son by Lavinia, who is also called Ascanius. Dido mentions, during their fight, that if he'd left her a child, his leaving wouldn't have been so bad. Sychaeus was Dido's first husband, murdered by her brother. Hey, everyone else in the book seems to keep names in the family. I thought it was plausible, in a totally fanficcy kinda way.

Venus: daughter of Jupiter (Aphrodite to his Zeus). At the start of book 4, she and Juno make a deal that neither really plan to go through with- _but what if they did?_ is kinda the whole premise of this story. The deal that by marrying Aeneas and Dido, the two goddesses would not be forced to fight each other (with their respective cities as proxies) in the future (which they do, both in the Aeneid and in history- Punic Wars: Carthage agaisnt Rome, which Carthage ultimately lost).

Latinus, father of Lavinia, who was Aeneas's destined bride and affectionately named 'the mother of the Roman race'. Had a prophecy made to him that Lavinia should seek a foreign spouse. Until the arrival of Aeneas, he figured Turnus, as king of a different tribe, was foreign enough. He realises his mistake and breaks off the betrothal to Turnus, eventually (with Juno's intervention) sparking war between Aeneas and Turnus. So if Aeneas never made it to Italy...

The Fate/Destiny thing- I tried to make it so Destiny was the ultimate result, and Fate was how you got there. So while Fate could change due to a person's decision, Destiny would not. Jupiter mentions how even he cannot alter destiny in the Aeneid, and is always respectful of it. I personified them into 3 beings- the idea is not an original one- however, I used no exact references in mythology for them (the major inspiration was actually Disney's Hercules *hides in shame*).

Turnus- totally did not deserve to die. *coughs* If there was no need for war with the newcomers (i.e. no foreign git out after his wife) there's very few reasons for Turnus (who is actually characterised as a morally straight man, and under Juno's 'spell' when he goes to war) to turn them away. And add that Iulus/Ascanius is the son of a famous fighter in his own right, giving him some sort of status in their household? I just really like the notion that without Fate and Destiny ruling them, Aeneas and Turnus had some things in common, and might have been friends. I transferred that to his son.

Venus _is_ actually Aeneas's mother- even Augustus and Caesar claimed descent from her. I imagine that as a relatively lesser goddess, Jupiter could punish her in ways he might not necessarily get away with punishing Juno. Hence why Juno's messenger could get out and talk to him.

Line break here is also shift in time- Aeneas + crew was roughly 1000-900BC, Romulus and Remus are 800-700BC, descended from Iulus and the Alban Kings. I think I made them more brotherly than Livy did. Their mother insisted they were the sons of Mars (Greek: Ares) through abduction and rape, and it became accepted in the time Virgil/Livy was writing as fact. So, I imagine them to be right little warmongering ruffians, 'specially since they were raised by wolves and all. The 'title owed to them' is basically that nobody believed their mother's story, and they were thrown to the wild to die. Wolves raised them, and the rest was history.

Line break here is now to the Second (and in this 'verse, last) Punic War- where Rome lost, so 202BC. Hannibal, historically leader of the Carthaginians, fought and nearly sacked Rome in the Second Punic War. Was reportedly one-eyed (ref. Juvenal's satires). (His father, Hamilcar, was leader during the First Punic War.

I added another personal irony; the name I mention as Hannibal's brother in all but blood was in fact the general who was responsible for his being defeated. Fabius Maximus delayed the advance of Hannibal's armies over enough time so Rome could gather enough reinforcements to defeat them. But I figure, with Aeneas being absent from the bloodline, some Romans wouldn't be in Rome but instead in Carthage, and so made them allies rather than enemies.

'True-born' African I tried to imply was anyone who couldn't trace ancestry back to Aeneas and any of his Trojan men who may have stayed with him. No racial slur intended.

Livy. Oh Livy. Historian writing in 1st century BC (time break again)- was a contemporary of Virgil. Actual work was called 'Ab Urbe Condita' rather than my bastardisation 'cause I figure if Rome's under someone else's rule, they'd be more circumspect about how much they glorify it and wouldn't automatically assume you knew they were talking about Rome.

The point of that section was to explain exactly how I thought my history might run, and imply how Destiny would get back on track. Basically, what history thought of Aeneas- he actually did die only about three years later- and how Rom/Rem came about.

'The one they call Caesar'. One of my favourite generals of all time. But here, instead of France, he's got bigger enemies to defeat...

The Carthaginian Empire/Roman Empire bit- I figure if Caesar was crushed, that's the last of his line and his family. They'd be killed for rebellion, leaving Carthage unopposed and free to expand without internal trouble. But if Caesar won... perhaps he would have been the first emperor of Rome rather than Octavian? A Roman empire would once again be formed and Destiny would finally be achieved as Jupiter wished it, bringing history more or less back on track.

* * *

So it's not actually changing anything, I realise. Still, let me know if you want anymore info? If you think I got anything wrong?

If you think I'm a shameless review whore doing anything to get a bit of feedback? *grins*


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